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  • #46
    Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
    LOL, is it a naval ship or a restaurant in Chinatown?
    No restaurant in Chinatown can cook one quarter of those dishes. And none can cook half as well as cooks on Liaoning.

    I spent several weeks in CHina last year. It's amazing how much better CHinese food is there.

    Comment


    • #47

      Photo: Reuters

      The disputed islets, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, seen from a Chinese marine surveillance plane. Here is a Google maps link.

      China navy seeks to "wear out" Japanese ships in disputed waters

      By David Lague
      Reuters | Mar 6, 2013

      (HONG KONG) - China's naval and paramilitary ships are churning up the ocean around islands it disputes with Tokyo in what experts say is a strategy to overwhelm the numerically inferior Japanese forces that must sail out to detect and track the flotillas.

      A daily stream of bulletins announce ship deployments into the East China Sea, naval combat exercises, the launch of new warships and commentaries calling for resolute defense of Chinese territory.

      "The operational goal in the East China Sea is to wear out the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force and the Japan Coast Guard," said James Holmes, a maritime strategy expert at the Newport, Rhode Island U.S. Naval War College.

      It wasn't until China became embroiled in the high stakes territorial dispute with Japan late last year that its secretive military opened up.

      Now, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is routinely telegraphing its moves around the disputed islands, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

      News of these missions also has domestic propaganda value for Beijing because it demonstrates the ruling Communist Party has the power and determination to defend what it insists has always been Chinese territory, political analysts said.

      However, experts warn that the danger of these constant deployments from both sides into the contested area increases the danger of an accident or miscalculation that could lead to conflict.

      In the most threatening incident so far, Tokyo last month said the fire control, or targeting, radar of Chinese warships near the islands "locked on" to a Japanese helicopter and destroyer in two separate incidents in late January.

      Beijing denies this but U.S. military officers have backed up Japan's account.

      "We are in extremely dangerous territory here," said Ross Babbage, a military analyst in Canberra and a former senior Australian defense official.

      "We could have had Japan and China in a serious war."

      Some foreign and Japanese security experts say Japan's powerful navy and coast guard still holds the upper hand in the disputed waters but that this could change if Beijing intensifies its patrols.

      "I believe China for the time being focuses resources on the South China Sea, which is a higher priority for them now," said Yoshihiko Yamada, a maritime policy expert and professor at Tokai University.

      "But, if they shift more resources to the East China Sea, the coast guard alone would not be able to handle the situation."

      There were signs that tension remained high last week when Tokyo protested that China had deployed a series of buoys around the islands to collect intelligence about Japanese operations.

      China's Foreign Ministry said the buoys were in Chinese waters and positioned to collect weather information.

      Beijing's paramilitary agencies have been equally forthright since the standoff began with a stream of news and footage of their deployments.

      Ships from these agencies including customs, maritime surveillance and fisheries are in the frontline of Beijing's campaign to assert sovereignty over the disputed islands, which are believed to be rich in oil and gas.

      A Chinese fisheries surveillance vessel entered Japan's territorial waters near the islands for the second day running on February 24 in what was the 31st similar incursion since September, the Japanese coast guard said last week.

      News bulletins in China are saturated with coverage of Chinese paramilitary ships jostling for position with their Japanese counterparts around the rocky islands.

      PRESSURE ON JAPAN COAST GUARD

      There is evidence Japan's coast guard is feeling the pressure.

      It plans to form a new, 600-member unit equipped with 12 patrol ships that will be deployed exclusively on missions around the disputed islands.

      And, it is boosting its budget to buy ships and aircraft by 23 percent to 32.5 billion yen ($348.15 million) for the year starting in April.

      The coast guard also plans to add 119 personnel in the year starting next month. That would be the biggest staff increase in 32 years.

      As tension mounted around the islands ahead of his return to office as prime minister of Japan in December, Shinzo Abe proposed converting retired navy vessels into coast guard patrol ships.

      Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Tuesday that his ministry and the coast guard were discussing the idea.

      Beijing has so far held its navy back from waters immediately surrounding the disputed territory but its warships are almost constantly patrolling nearby seas and other waterways around the Japanese archipelago, according to the PLA announcements.

      In late January, the PLA said a naval fleet would conduct a naval exercise in the Western Pacific after "sailing through islands" off the Chinese coast, a clear reference to the Japanese archipelago. The navy had conducted seven similar exercises last year, it said.

      In a series of subsequent bulletins, the PLA said three of its most modern warships, the missile destroyer Qingdao and the missile frigates Yantai and Yancheng would make up the fleet which would conduct training in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea in an 18-day deployment.

      The U.S. navy has also monitored the sharply increased tempo of Chinese naval and paramilitary operations near Japan.

      In an unusually blunt public assessment, a senior American naval intelligence officer, Captain James Fanell, told a seminar in San Diego on January 31 that the PLA navy had last year sent seven surface action groups into the Philippines Sea south of Japan.

      It had also deployed the biggest number of submarines in its history into this area, he said.

      It was unclear if Fanell was referring to the same seven deployments the PLA disclosed last month.

      "Make no mistake, the PLA navy is focused on war at sea and about sinking an opposing fleet," Fanell said.

      And, the U.S. officer said, China's maritime surveillance agency, a civil proxy for the PLA, had become "a full-time maritime sovereignty harassment organization" with the goal of enforcing territorial claims.

      The frequency of deployments appears set to continue with the PLA announcing on February 27 it would conduct 40 military exercises this year with an increased emphasis on "core security-related interests".

      Senior Chinese officials have strongly implied that Japan's claim over the islands is an attack on one of China's core interests, an important distinction to Beijing in defining its non-negotiable national priorities.

      In a speech to the politburo in late January, Chinese party leader Xi Jinping referred to the pain of "wartime atrocities", an apparent reference to Japan's bloody invasion and occupation of China last century, according to a report of his remarks carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

      "We will stick to the road of peaceful development but will never give up our legitimate rights and will never sacrifice our national core interests," he was reported to have said.

      And, Beijing continues to boost its military firepower. Chinese shipyards last week delivered a new, stealth frigate to the navy, the official PLA Daily newspaper reported.

      The radar evading type-056 frigate would be introduced in big numbers as the first step in a systematic upgrade of navy hardware, the paper said.

      BUT JAPAN SAYS IT WON'T BUCKLE

      Despite the intense military and diplomatic pressure, the Japanese government shows no sign of wilting.

      "We simply cannot tolerate any challenge now and in the future," Prime Minister Abe said recently in Washington.

      "No nation should make any miscalculation or underestimate the firmness of our resolve."

      Still, military analysts said Japanese forces must continue to match China's patrols and exercises.

      In a paper prepared for an Australian military think tank last year, an influential Japanese military strategist, retired Vice Admiral Yoji Koda, said Chinese naval forces sailing around the Japanese islands "will surely meet intensive surveillance and continuous tracking" from Japanese forces and its U.S. allies.

      Some military analysts suggest Beijing's continuous deployments around the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands are also part of a wider policy of enhancing its claims over a number of disputed territories in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

      "If Beijing starts policing territory it claims as its own, and if rival claimants can't push back effectively, it will start looking like the rightful sovereign over that territory," said Holmes.

      However, Holmes added that Japan poses a much stiffer challenge for Beijing than smaller nations like the Philippines which also has overlapping territorial claims with China.

      While smaller in raw numbers than the PLA navy, the highly trained Japanese navy is generally regarded as the most powerful in Asia with state-of-the art ships, submarines and aircraft. And, it has a security alliance with the United States that obliges Washington to intervene if Japan is attacked.

      Other military experts suggest Beijing has decided to intensify its operations against Japan, a nation whose wartime aggression is remembered across Asia, because confrontations with smaller neighbors in recent years had led to a region-wide diplomatic backlash.

      "The Senkaku/Diaoyu hoopla of late is triggered by China's desire to extricate itself from total regional isolation caused by China's expansive territorial claims against virtually all of its maritime neighbors," said Yu Maochun, an expert on the PLA at the Annapolis, Maryland United States Naval Academy. ($1 = 93.3500 Japanese yen)

      (Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo. Editing by Dean Yates)

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      Attached Files
      Last edited by JRT; 08 Mar 13,, 00:19. Reason: added Google maps link
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      • #48
        Chinese navy intensifies blue water training: white paper

        April 15, 2013 | Xinhua General News Service

        BEIJING - The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is intensifying blue water training, according to a white paper issued Tuesday by the State Council Information Office.

        "The PLA navy is improving the training mode of task force formation in blue water," says the white paper on "the diversified employment of China's armed forces."

        The PLA navy organizes the training of different formations of combined task forces composed of new types of destroyers, frigates, ocean-going replenishment ships and shipborne helicopters, the white paper says.

        "The Chinese navy is increasing its research and training on tasks in complex battlefield environments, highlighting the training of remote early warning, comprehensive control, open sea interception, long-range raid, anti-submarine warfare and vessel protection at distant sea," it says.

        The PLAN organizes relevant coastal forces to carry out live force-on-force training for air defense, anti-submarine, anti-mine, anti-terrorism, anti-piracy, coastal defense, and island and reef sabotage raids, it says.

        According to the white paper, since 2007, the PLAN has conducted training in the distant sea waters of the Western Pacific involving over 90 ships in nearly 20 batches.

        During the training, the PLA navy took effective measures to respond to foreign close-in reconnaissance and illegal interference activities by military ships and aircraft, it says.

        From April to September 2012, the training vessel Zhenghe completed global-voyage training, paying port calls to 14 countries and regions, it adds.

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        China criticizes U.S. force strengthening in Asia

        Christopher Bodeen | Apr 16, 2013 | The Associated Press

        BEIJING — In its latest account of national defense efforts, China said Tuesday that the United States is destabilizing the Asia-Pacific region by strengthening its military alliances and sending more ships, planes and troops to the area.

        The U.S. policy known as the “pivot” to Asia runs counter to regional trends and “frequently makes the situation tenser,” the Defense Ministry said in its report on the state of China’s defense posture and armed forces.

        “Certain efforts made to highlight the military agenda, enhance military deployment and also strengthen alliances are not in line with the calling of the times and are not conducive to the upholding of peace and stability in the region,” spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters at a news conference marking the report’s release.

        “We hope that the relevant parties would do more to enhance the mutual trust between countries in the region and contribute to peace and stability,” Yang said.

        China has consistently criticized Washington’s deployment of additional ships and personnel to Asia, along with increasing cooperation both with treaty partners, including Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, as well other countries such as Vietnam that aren’t traditional allies.

        The U.S. is winding down its fighting in Afghanistan and calls the restructuring a natural reallocation of resources to the world’s most economically dynamic region.

        Beijing, however, sees it as specifically designed to contain China’s diplomatic, military and economic rise, and has sought to reassure Asian nations that China poses no threat to them. Despite that, China’s fast-growing military and increasingly firm assertions of its territorial claims have concerned many countries, pushing them to seek stronger relations with the U.S., the region’s traditional military superpower.

        The pivot will see 60 percent of the Navy’s fleet be deployed to the Pacific by 2020. Singapore will be home to four new U.S. Littoral Combat Ships designed to fight close to shorelines, while Indonesia is looking to buy a broad range of American hardware and take part in joint maneuvers. The Philippines is seeking to host more U.S. troops on a rotating basis, and Australia has agreed to allow up to 2,500 Marines to deploy to the northern city of Darwin.

        Meanwhile, in the face of natural disasters and North Korean threats, U.S. military relations with treaty partners South Korea and Japan — which host 78,000 American troops between them — are closer than ever. China has also been angered by what it sees as U.S. support for its opponents in disputes with Japan, the Philippines and others over territory in the East China and South China seas.

        “China views the U.S. actions as proving it is biased against it,” scholar Qian Liwei wrote in the official English-language China Daily on Tuesday.

        “It will take time and patience to convince China that it isn’t the target of the U.S.’s rebalancing,” wrote Qian, an associated research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, China’s main intelligence agency.

        In its report, the Defense Ministry again sought to assuage concerns about its more than 500 percent increase in defense spending over the past 14 years. China’s defense budget is now the second largest in the world after the U.S., allowing it to acquire everything from better submarines and missiles to state-of-the-art fighters, aircraft carriers and electronic warfare systems, and helping spawn an arms race across Asia.

        Much of the report was devoted to the military’s contribution to U.N. peacekeeping efforts and disaster relief, portraying the People’s Liberation Army as a force for regional and global stability.

        Yet it also asserted the PLA’s role as a guarantor of China’s core interests, vowing to tolerate no violation of those.

        “‘We will not attack unless we are attacked, but we will surely counterattack if attacked. Following this principle, China will resolutely take all necessary measures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the report said.

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        • #49
          Originally posted by JRT View Post
          We will not attack unless we are attacked.
          Sure, I heard this story many times before.

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          • #50
            [QUOTE=JRT;905698]
            Photo: Reuters

            The disputed islets, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, seen from a Chinese marine surveillance plane.

            Cute little islands, but why contribute to the undeveloped land mass? Other than bragging rights, there can not be much tactical advantage!

            Comment


            • #51
              Originally posted by blidgepump View Post
              Cute little islands, but why contribute to the undeveloped land mass? Other than bragging rights, there can not be much tactical advantage!

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              The shorelines of those islands could extend China's "Exclusive Economic Zone".

              Exclusive economic zone - Wikipedia article link

              related UN info link

              Here is a Google maps link, zoomed in.

              Here is a Google maps link, zoomed out.
              Last edited by JRT; 16 Apr 13,, 20:10.
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              • #52
                almost two years no war ..all are quite intellegent,afraid and know the consequences and are well under control of the great nation

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                • #54
                  China Naval Fleet Seen Off Northern Japan
                  7/14/2013 | AGENCE FRANCE - PRESSE

                  TOKYO — A Chinese naval fleet was Sunday spotted sailing for the first time through an international strait between northern Japan and Russia’s far east, the Japanese defence ministry said.

                  The two missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship passed through the Soya Strait from the Sea of Japan to the Sea of Okhotsk early Sunday, the ministry said.

                  The channel, also known as La Perouse, separates the Russian island of Sakhalin and the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido.

                  The five ships took part in joint naval exercises with Russia from July 5-12 off Vladivostok.

                  Two other Chinese naval ships which also took part in the drills were seen moving into the East China Sea on Saturday.

                  The purpose of the Chinese fleet’s passage through the Soya Strait is not known, Kyodo news agency quoted a ministry official as saying.

                  On Saturday a fleet of 16 Russian naval ships was seen moving through the Soya Strait into the Sea of Okhotsk, the ministry said.

                  China and Russia held the joint naval exercises — their second such drill — amid regional concerns about China’s growing maritime power.Tensions have been growing over China’s island disputes with Japan and other neighbours.

                  Chinese government surveillance ships have frequently approached the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which are also claimed by China as the Diaoyus, since Japan nationalised some of them last September.

                  Chinese army chief of general staff General Fang Fenghui earlier said the joint drills were “not targeting any third party”, according to the official Chinese Xinhua news agency.

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                  China and Russia, in a Display of Unity, Hold Naval Exercises
                  July 11, 2013 | The New York Times

                  BEIJING — An armada of Chinese and Russian warships sailed in ceremonial formation in the Sea of Japan, off the port of Vladivostok, on Wednesday in what was the high point of joint naval exercises intended to show the growing unity between two countries with a historically uneasy relationship.

                  China hailed the exercises as its military's largest deployment for maneuvers with a foreign country. State-run news media gave widespread coverage to the action, which included live firing drills.

                  The commander of the Chinese fleet, Maj. Gen. Yang Junfei, told Chinese reporters that the goal was to strengthen ''strategic trust'' and improve coordination between the two navies.

                  From Beijing's point of view, there was a message for Washington, too: As China rapidly builds its maritime power and the United States begins to deploy more of its naval and air assets back to the Pacific Ocean as part of its new focus on Asia, China will not stand alone.

                  The Obama administration's decision to send more military power to Asia is widely interpreted in China as a containment policy, leading in part, some Chinese analysts say, to China's seeking stronger military and economic relations with Russia, a country it has long regarded with suspicion.

                  ''This shows unprecedented good relations between China and Russia,'' said Professor Wang Ning, director of the Center for Russian Studies at the Shanghai International Studies University. ''It shows that the two countries will support each other on the global stage.''

                  Both countries want a more multipolar world in which the United States is less dominant, he said.

                  After being named China's president in March, Xi Jinping made his first foreign visit to Russia, where he held talks that culminated in the announcement last month of a $270 billion deal for Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company, to double oil supplies to China.

                  For the exercises in the Japan Sea, China sent seven warships, including a guided-missile destroyer with Aegis-type radars that track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets, and missile frigates with antisubmarine abilities, the Chinese Navy said. The Russian lineup included the flagship of its Pacific fleet, the guided-missile cruiser Varyag, and a Kilo-class submarine.

                  ''This is our strongest lineup ever in a joint naval drill,'' General Yang said. ''Our forces come from two fleets -- the North Sea Fleet and the South Sea Fleet -- and include seven ships, three helicopters and one special warfare unit.''

                  The diversity of vessels and the more sophisticated exercises illustrated a sudden deepening of the military cooperation between Russia and China, said Nan Li, associate professor in the strategic research department at the United States Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

                  In a joint naval exercise last year between the two countries, maneuvers were restricted to counterterrorism and piracy, he said. This time the exercises included fleet air defense, antisubmarine warfare and surface warfare.

                  But there are limitations on how close the two countries are militarily, Mr. Li said. The planning for the joint exercise seemed to be ad hoc, he said. Russia and China are well short of being formal allies and would not come to the help of the other in a ''real contingency,'' Mr. Li said.

                  Still, he said, the exercise off Vladivostok was comparable in number and size of ships to naval exercises the United States conducts with countries that are not allies.

                  The drills by the Russian and Chinese warships were watched closely by Japan, a treaty ally of the United States now in a serious maritime and political dispute with China over the sovereignty of islands known as the Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.

                  Indeed, undermining the United States' alliance with Japan was one of the goals of the joint exercise, according to the Russian-language version of a news portal, China.org, that is run by China's State Council Information Office.

                  ''We can assume that they are an attempt to resist the ongoing U.S.-Japan alliance,'' a report on the news portal said last week before the exercises began. ''Strictly speaking, most of the forces of the Russian Pacific Fleet are aimed at blocking the U.S.-Japanese island chain of primary defense.''

                  China had a similar aim, the report said. But because neither China nor Russia is strong enough on their its to break the U.S.-Japan alliance, they had chosen to intensify a ''deep strategic cooperation'' toward that goal.

                  Last month, the United States Navy and Marine Corps held joint amphibious exercises with Japan's Self Defense Force off the coast of Southern California, maneuvers that were treated with skepticism in the Chinese news media.

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                  • #55


                    Pentagon plays down intelligence officer's provocative China assessment

                    By Phil Stewart | Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:39pm EST | Reuters

                    (WASHINGTON) - The Pentagon on Thursday played down remarks by a senior Navy intelligence officer who told a public forum that he believed China was training its forces to be capable of carrying out a "short, sharp" war with Japan in the East China Sea.

                    The comments by Captain James Fanell, director of intelligence and information operations at the U.S. Pacific Fleet, were little noticed when he made them last week at a conference on maritime strategy called "West 2014" in San Diego. They can be seen here: link.reuters.com/qyq96v

                    Fanell also predicted China, which declared an air defense zone last year in the East China Sea where it is locked in a territorial dispute with Japan over a string of small islands, would declare another air defense zone by the end of 2015, this time in the South China Sea.

                    The Pentagon's top spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, declined to comment on whether it was appropriate for Fanell to publicly offer such a blunt assessment, but said the Pentagon wanted closer ties with China's military.

                    "Those were his views to express," Kirby told a Pentagon news conference.

                    "What I can tell you about what Secretary Hagel believes is that we all continue to believe that the peaceful, prosperous rise of China is a good thing for the region, for the world," he said, referring to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

                    Asked whether the Pentagon shared Fanell's assessments, Kirby said it would be inappropriate for him to speak to the intentions or motivations of another country's military.

                    "It's for China to speak to China's intentions and motivations and their relations with their neighbors. And nothing's changed about our view here," Kirby said.

                    Ties between China and U.S. ally Japan have worsened due in part to mistrust over China's military buildup and their territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

                    The U.S. military has refused to recognize the air defense zone China declared last year. Some U.S. officials have warned that any declaration by Beijing of another such zone in the South China Sea could result in changes to U.S. military deployments in the region.

                    Asked whether Fanell's comments could be a "trial balloon" signaling a possible toughening of the U.S. military posture in the region, Kirby said: "I would refute that absolutely, not a trial balloon."

                    Fanell, addressing the San Diego forum, said he expected China to declare an air defense zone in the South China Sea in 2014 or 2015.

                    Fanell said China was expanding training for its navy beyond the "long-standing task to restore Taiwan to the mainland."

                    "We witnessed the massive amphibious and cross military region exercise, Mission Action 2013, and concluded that the PLA (People's Liberation Army) has been given a new task: To be able to conduct a short, sharp war to destroy Japanese forces in the East China Sea," he said.

                    true He added that such a war could be expected to be followed by a seizure of the islands at the heart of China's territorial dispute with Japan. The islands are known as the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China.

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                    • #56
                      Philippines protests over South China Sea water cannon incident
                      Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:53am EST
                      Reuters

                      (MANILA) - The Philippines protested on Tuesday against China's use of a water cannon on Filipino fishermen in disputed waters of the South China Sea warning that the incident would escalate tension.

                      China's chargé d'affaires in Manila, Sun Xiangyang, was summoned to hear the Philippines "strongly protest the efforts of China to prohibit Filipino fishermen from undertaking fishing activities in the Philippines' Bajo de Masinloc", said Raul Hernandez, the foreign ministry spokesman.

                      Hernandez, referring to the South China Sea's Scarborough Shoal fishing ground by its Philippine name, said the fishermen had been merely sheltering from bad weather in the area.

                      "We call on China to respect our sovereignty and rights of our fishermen," Hernandez told a news conference.

                      "These actions, these incidents surely escalates the tension in the area. And this further threatens the peace and security and stability in the region."

                      China's Foreign Ministry rebuffed the complaint, saying Chinese ships patrolled the region to protect China's sovereignty and ensure "normal order".

                      "China does not accept so-called representations or protests from the Philippines," spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

                      "For foreign ships in these seas, Chinese ships have been carrying out necessary management appropriately and reasonably," she added.

                      "We demand that the relevant country earnestly respect China's sovereignty, and not provoke any new incidents."

                      Since the beginning of the year, China has required foreign fishing boats to get approval before entering waters that it a claims as its own.

                      "SEEKING CLARIFICATION"

                      On January 27, a Chinese coastguard vessel tried to drive away Filipino fishermen from Scarborough Shoal by using a water cannon, General Emmanuel Bautista, the head of Philippine military said on Monday.

                      China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea's 3.5 million sq km (1.35 million sq mile) waters. The sea provides 10 percent of the global fish catch, carries $5 trillion in ship-borne trade a year and its seabed is believed to be rich with energy reserves.

                      Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam also claim parts of the sea.

                      Speaking to reporters, President Benigno Aquino said the government would seek clarification from China about "what this incident was all about".

                      "We are not sure, at this point, if we can call it their standard operating procedure," the president said. The Department of Foreign Affairs said there were nine harassment incidents in the same area last year.

                      The Philippines has urged ASEAN to conclude a binding code of conduct with China to avoid accidents and miscalculations in the disputed waters.

                      The Philippines has taken its dispute with China to arbitration under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea but China is refusing to participate in the case.

                      China has rejected challenges to its sovereignty claims and accused the Philippines of illegally occupying Chinese islands in the seas and of provoking tension.

                      This month, the commander of the U.S. Navy said the United States would come to the aid of the Philippines in the event of conflict with China over disputed waters.

                      (Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing Michael Perry and Robert Birsel)

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                      • #57
                        and then this from the Global Times although I seriously doubt the owner of a memorabilia shop got an email from US Navy officers.

                        US military may have secretly returned to Subic Bay in Philippines


                        The United States may have already redeployed a permanent military presence in the Philippines amid tensions with China in the South China Sea, reports China's nationalistic Global Times tabloid.

                        Philippine president Benigno Aquino III said recently that he was "very close" to completing an agreement to boost the number of US troops allowed into the country as tensions with China continue over islands including the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal.

                        The US officially ended its permanent military presence in the Philippines after the closure of the Subic Bay naval base in 1991, and has since rotated around 400 troops into the country each year to aid in counter-terrorism operations as consultants and instructors, according to government sources.

                        The Global Times, however, says following an investigation at Subic Bay, now an industrial and commercial area known as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, that it is an open secret that it will only be a matter of time before the US military makes a permanent return to the Philippines.

                        Global Times reported observing large gray warehouses, power plants, pipelines and docks in the Subic Bay area that appear to be for military use but are far too large and extensive for the Philippines Navy. Its sources also claimed that the premises of the former naval base is being maintained by a "mysterious" foreign company which is said to be preparing for the US Navy to move back in at any time. Under the current negotiations between the two countries, the Philippines may reportedly give the US access to bases including Subic Bay, which is considered an extension of the South China Sea.

                        The owner of a memorabilia store in the bay also told the Global Times that he received an email from US naval officers saying that they will return to the Philippines in 2014 at the earliest.
                        Others have gone further, alleging that the US military has continued to secretly maintain a presence in Subic Bay for years. One local businessman said there is an area along the bay that has been prohibited to the Philippines military for the past three years and is actually a secret US Navy submarine reconnaissance base.

                        A professor in the department of politics at the University of the Philippines, told the Global Times that the US military has already made a permanent return to Subic Bay and is also making a gradual return to the former Clark Air Base in the province of Pampanga, situated about 60 kilometers northwest of Metro Manila. President Aquino has also opened up the country's 25 airports and naval bases to allow the US Navy to enter and leave freely, he added.


                        http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-s...00080&cid=1101

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                        • #58
                          China may soon be growing a large new maritime logistics presence in the Caribbean.

                          Government, CHEC Agree on Terms for Goat Island Project (Jamaica)
                          Posted on Feb 27th, 2014

                          The Port Authority of Jamaica and China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) have arrived at an Initial Framework Agreement that provides the general terms and conditions under which discussions will continue regarding the proposed development of Portland Bight/Goat Island.

                          [ATTACH=CONFIG]37297[/ATTACH]

                          Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies, in a statement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, February 25.

                          Dr. Davies said that the project is currently being envisaged as a large green field project, which will be implemented in phases.

                          The first phase will include the development of an industrial park and the laying and development of infrastructure facilities.

                          Dr. Davies explained that the industrial park will carry on the operations associated with storage, assembling and packaging of goods in light industries; heavy industry manufacturing; information technology; and skills training.

                          “The laying and development of infrastructure facilities include: bridge, roads, drives, within the project area; pipelines and water storage facilities; sewer lines and sewer treatment facilities; electricity transmission lines and electricity generation facilities; cable transmission lines; and similar services and facilities contemplated for the project,” he stated.

                          Other areas include dredging and land reclamation activities to create the port and suitable access channel to the port facility; construction and development of a container terminal with modern fittings, technology and services; and the construction and development of berths of sufficient width, length and depth to accommodate Super Post Panamax vessels.

                          There will also be the construction of a coal-fired electricity generation plant for the supply of electricity to the facilities comprising the project.

                          Meanwhile, CHEC, with assistance from Port Authority, has applied to the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) for a Beach Control Licence in order to begin their geotechnical investigation and the engineering survey, which are necessary to determine the feasibility of the project.

                          Dr. Davies said the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and Agro Investments Corporation, the owners of the properties, which are under consideration, have agreed for CHEC to enter their properties for the purpose of conducting these investigations.

                          “The technical feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of April 2014. The preliminary designs for the first phase of the project will begin immediately thereafter; and is expected to be completed by the end of June this year,” he stated.

                          “At this stage, it is anticipated that the project will be sufficiently defined to allow CHEC to make a presentation to NEPA, to seek the requisite Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project. And, I must emphasize that it is only after the completion of the EIA will the project be ready to be submitted to Cabinet for a decision,” he added.

                          The Transport and Works Minister however noted that there are a number of issues, which will need to be addressed prior to signing a binding and definitive framework agreement.

                          He said this include the acquisition of lands currently owned by the UDC and the Ministry of Agriculture (Agro-Invest and Innswood Estates); and taxes and incentives, which would take into account imminent repeal of the Freezone Act in 2015, and pending decisions regarding the treatment of commercial economic zones.

                          Dr. Davies also informed that focus will have to be placed on reviewing applicable laws and policy and procedures in light of possible request for citizenship from investors within the project area.
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                          Last edited by JRT; 03 Jul 14,, 23:08.
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                          • #59
                            Originally posted by JRT View Post
                            China may soon be growing a large new maritime logistics presence in the Caribbean.
                            Unlikely. Just because the Chinese invests in infrastructure/port construction does not automatically augment the PLAN's logistics. The idea of the "String of Pearls" as a series of naval bases has long died.

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                            • #60
                              [ATTACH]37915[/ATTACH][ATTACH]37916[/ATTACH]

                              China has shown off the People's Liberation Army's latest hardware on primetime state television, an advanced short-range missile defence system said to have a “high success rate” destroying incoming missiles and aircraft.

                              The Hongqi-10 (Reg Flag 10) surface-to-air missile was shown in China Central Television's evening news bulletin Wednesday being fired from ships and land-based mobile launchers, and exploding in the sky on impact with its target.

                              It will protect warships against rockets over a limited area, and will be used alongside an “area defence system” which covers a larger area but has a slower response time, the state-run Global Times newspaper said Thursday.

                              “As a naval point defence missile system, HongQi-10 boasts a particularly quick response to low-altitude missiles that area defence systems fail to intercept,” it quoted Lan Yun, deputy chief editor of monthly journal Modern Ships, as saying.

                              It cited him adding that it had a high success rate in hitting its targets.

                              Incoming missiles only 1.5-10 metres above sea level can be targeted with the new system, which takes only 10 seconds to launch, Lan said.

                              The missiles can also used to protect ground forces from air attacks by ”jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles”, the Global Times report said, citing an expert.

                              The Hongqi-10, whose export version is known as FL-3000N, has been installed on some of China's most advanced warships including the 1,300-tonne Type 056 frigates and 7,000-tonne Type 052D destroyers, Chinese media have reported.

                              Beijing has been increasing its military might and naval reach in recent years, and President Xi Jinping regularly urges the country to strengthen its ability to “win battles”.

                              China shows off advanced ship missile defence system | South China Morning Post
                              Looks like the Chinese have built themselves a Rolling Airframe Missile. Minus the whole rolling bit.
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